Dimensions of organisational democracy

Organisational democracy

Organisational democracy has been the subject of relatively few studies, which often focus on specific types of organisations such as cooperatives or associations. Furthermore, organisational democracy is frequently viewed primarily or even exclusively through the lens of representation methods and/or voting processes.

ISIDOR proposes a broad vision of democracy that can be applied to organisations of all types and that serves a wide range of stakeholders within the organisation, as well as the organisation itself as a whole. The representative dimension, which is well documented elsewhere, is not taken into account here.

The vision of democracy that we have developed is organised around five ‘dimensions’.

They are all interdependent, with one of them being more clearly cross-cutting (Democratic dialogue & Citizenship).

The dimensions of organisational democracy

Well-being and citizenship at work, and more broadly organisational democracy, are described using five dimensions:

• Democratic dialogue & Citizenship
• Information systems, digital information systems and plurality of representations
• Management systems and decision-making
• Autonomy of individuals, work groups and the organisation as a whole
• Time and organisational learning

These five dimensions represent ISIDOR’s way of thinking, the foundation of the entire method.

The software ‘components’ to be analysed

The software will be analysed through three ‘components’ that are particularly representative of its impact on well-being and citizenship at work:

• HMIs (Human-Machine Interfaces)
• one or more dashboards integrated into the software or derived from it (supplemented by the data dictionary if available)
• IT project management (the project that generated the software if it is recent, otherwise another project currently underway or carried out in the last two years).

Correspondence between dimensions and components

Each dimension is analysed primarily through one of these three components. However, it should be noted that all components can contribute to the analysis of the dimension.

• The Social Dialogue, Democratic Debate and Citizenship dimension
  => is analysed mainly through IT project management.
• The Information System, Digital Information System and Plurality of Representations dimension
  => is analysed mainly through dashboards (and the data dictionary).
• The Management System and Decision-Making dimension
  => is analysed mainly through dashboards.
• The Autonomy dimension
  => is analysed mainly through HMIs.
• The Time and Organisational Learning dimension
  => is analysed mainly through IT project management.